Empires, Tsars & The Black Sea

A private transfer after our flights brings us to the historic Pera Palace Hotel, the most revered in all of Istanbul. After an afternoon at leisure we have a splendid Welcome Dinner at the hotel, which was built in the 19th century for passengers arriving on the legendary Orient Express train from Venice.

We see the best of Turkey’s most vibrant city this morning, taking in its remarkably varied history, before lunch in a local restaurant. In the afternoon we will transfer to our home for the next 11 nights, the MS Caledonian Sky, and after acquainting ourselves with its facilities and meeting the captain and crew we enjoy welcome cocktails and dinner on board. Guests arriving from the Exotic Wonders of Turkey journey join us today.

Choose from a morning in Amasra’s Old Town, set on a peninsula between two bays, or a day in historic Safranbolu before we sail for Sinop, founded by the Greeks and subsequently conquered by the Phrygians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Seljuks and Ottomans. The Archaeological Museum illustrates this unsettled history. From the city of Trabzon, we set out for the 13th-century Sumela Byzantine monastery, which clings improbably to a sheer rock wall. We also visit Trabzon’s Old Town, Aya Sofia church and Ataturk’s cliffside mansion.

We land in Georgia for a full day exploring Batumi, whose Gonio fortress was built in the 1st century and has links with the Apostle Matthew, said to be entombed here, and the mythological enchantress Medea, whose towering statue holding the Golden Fleece we see in Europa Square. The sub-tropical botanic gardens and farmers market lead us to lunch, which features an exhilarating private performance by the Adjara State Assembly of Music and Dance.

Venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sochi’s climate and health spas have attracted Russia’s elite for centuries, including Stalin, whose artfully concealed dacha, built deep in the woods in 1937, remains as it was when the Soviet leader holidayed there. We also visit Dagomy’s, the world’s most northerly tea plantation, and sample the brew improbably grown in the shadows of the Caucasus mountains. As we sail towards Odessa, we spend a full day aboard the ship, with myriad activities to keep us entertained.

We have two days to explore this striking coastal city, founded by Catherine the Great in 1794. The celebrated Potemkin Steps, Primorsky Boulevard, Preobrazhensky Cathedral and the Fine Arts Museum are among the sights we visit, along with two significant homes, Tolstoy Mansion, built for Count Mikhail Tolstoy in 1932, and mid-19th-century Gagarin Mansion, now a literary museum where we enjoy a violin recital in the Golden Hall.

Coast or capital is our choice – a day in the port of Constanta, or a visit to the capital, Bucharest. Constanta’s antiquity shows at the Archaeological Museum and in imposing 3rd-century Roman mosaics, and we stroll along the Black Sea waterfront. In Bucharest we see French influences in the wide boulevards, and as a stark contrast, the massive Parliament Palace, a bloated legacy of the megalomania of despised former dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.

Burgas introduces us to the Bulgarian coast, whose crowning glory is Sozopol, the oldest town in the country, dating to 610BC. Its wooden houses and cobblestoned streets give it the air of a living museum. You may prefer to head to Nessebar, whose atmospheric Old Town holds World Heritage status. We then toast our journey on the final night aboard our ship.